10/04/2018 ms access - What are the rules governing usage of brackets in VBA function calls?

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What are the rules governing usage of brackets in VBA function calls?

I've just had an irritating 30 minutes on a "compiler error" in VBA (Access 2003) caused by my use of brackets around the arguments I'm passing to a Sub I
defined.

I've been searching to find a decent article/tutorial/instruction as to when brackets are necessary/appropriate/inappropriate/forbidden, but can't find any clear
guidelines.

ms-access vba syntax

edited Mar 25 '11 at 21:21 asked Mar 24 '11 at 1:34

Tony Toews HorusKol
7,305 1 14 24 4,589 6 36 74

2 Here's my favorite post on this topic: dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2012/05/01/… – Doug Glancy Dec 13 '14 at 15:03

6 Answers

From Here:

Using the VBScript Call Statement to Call a Subroutine The use of Call statement is optional when
you wish to call a subroutine. The purpose of the Call statement when used with a Sub is to allow you
to enclose the argument list in parentheses. However, if a subroutine does not pass any arguments,
then you still should not use parentheses when calling a Sub using the Call statement.

Call MySubroutine

If a subroutine has arguments, you must use parentheses when using the Call statement. If there is
more than one argument, you must separate the arguments with commas.

Call MySubroutine(intUsageFee, intTimeInHours, "DevGuru")

Calling the Function There are two possible ways to call a function. You may either call the function
directly, by name only, or you may call it by using the VBScript Call statement.

Calling a Function by Name When calling a function directly by name and when there is no
assignment to a returned value, all of the following are legal syntax:

MyFunction
MyFunction()
MyFunction intUsageFee, intTimeInHours, "DevGuru"

If you want a returned value, you can assign the function to a variable. Note that if there is one or more
arguments, you must use the parentheses.

returnval = MyFunction
returnval = MyFunction()
returnval = MyFunction(intUsageFee, intTimeInHours, "DevGuru")

answered Mar 24 '11 at 2:05

Mitch Wheat
241k 32 384 487

7 Thanks - it looks like my problem was because my function is not returning a value, but I was still using brackets
around my argument list. This seems a rather odd syntax decision... – HorusKol Mar 24 '11 at 2:44

There is perfect logic to the Parentheses Rule in VB(A), and it goes like this.

If a procedure (function or sub) is called with arguments, and the call is on a line with other statements
or keywords, the arguments must be enclosed in parentheses. This to distinguish the arguments
belonging to the procedure call from the rest of the line. So:

1: If CheckConditions(A, B, C) = DONT_PROCEED Then Exit Sub

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5413765/what-are-the-rules-governing-usage-of-brackets-in-vba-function-calls 1/4
10/04/2018 ms access - What are the rules governing usage of brackets in VBA function calls? - Stack Overflow
is a valid line; the call to CheckConditions needs the parentheses to indicate what other bits of the line
are its arguments. Conversely, this would produce a syntax error:

2: If CheckConditions A, B, C = DONT_PROCEED Then Exit Sub

Because it is impossible to parse.

With a procedure call as the only statement on the line, parentheses aren't needed because it is clear
that the arguments belong to the procedure call:

3: SaveNewValues Value1, Value2, Value3

While this results in a syntax error (for sound reasons discussed below):

4: SaveNewValues(Value1, Value2, Value3)

To avoid confusion about parentheses or no parentheses (in fact, to avoid the Parentheses Rule
entirely), it is always a good idea to use the Call keyword for calls like these; that ensures that the
procedure call is not the only statement on the line, thus requiring parentheses:

5: Call SaveNewValues(Value1, Value2, Value3)

So if you get in the habit of preceding self-contained procedure calls with the Call keyword, you can
forget the Parentheses Rule, because you can then always enclose your arguments in parentheses.

The matter is confused by the additional role parentheses play in VB(A) (and many other languages):
they also indicate evaluation precedence for expressions. If you use parentheses in any other context
but to enclose procedure call arguments, VB(A) will attempt to evaluate the expression in the
parentheses to a resulting simple value.

Thus, in example 4, where parentheses are illegal for enclosing the arguments, VB(A) will instead
attempt to evaluate the expression in the parentheses. Since (Value1, Value 2, Value3) is not an
expression that can be evaluated, a syntax error ensues.

This also explains why calls with a variable passed ByRef act as if called ByVal if the argument is
enclosed in parentheses. In the example above, where function p is called with ByRef parameter a,
there is a big difference between these two calls to p:

6: p a

And

7: p(a)

As discussed above, 6 is the correct syntax: the call is alone on its line, so parentheses should not be
used to enclose the arguments.

In 7, the argument is enclosed in parentheses anyway, prompting VB(A) to evaluate the enclosed
expression to a simple value. Which of course is the very definition of passing ByVal. The parentheses
ensure that instead of a pointer to a, the value of a is passed, and a is left unmodified.

This also explains why the parentheses rule doesn't always seem to hold sway. Clearest example is a
MsgBox call:

8: MsgBox "Hello World!"

And

9: MsgBox ("Hello World!")

Are both correct, even though the parentheses rule dictates that 9 should be wrong. It is, of course, but
all that happens is that VB(A) evaluates the expression in the parentheses. And the string literal
evaluates to the exact same string literal, so that the actual call made is 8. In other words: calls to
single-argument procedures with constant or string literal arguments have the identical result with or
without parentheses. (This is why even my MsgBox calls are preceded by the Call keyword.)

Finally, this explains odd Type Mismatch errors and weird behavior when passing Object arguments.
Let's say your application has a HighlightContent procedure that takes a TextBox as argument (and,
you'll never guess, highlights it contents). You call this to select all text in the textbox. You can call this
procedure in three syntactically correct ways:

10: HighlightContent txtName

11: HighlightContent (txtName)
12: Call HighlightContent(txtName)

Let's say your user has entered "John" in the textbox and your application calls HighlightContent. What
will happen, which call will work?

10 and 12 are correct; the name John will be highlighted in the textbox. But 11 is syntactically correct,
but will result in a compile or runtime error. Why? Because the parentheses are out of place. That will
prompt VB(A) to attempt an evaluation of the expression in the parentheses. And the result of the
evaluation of an object will most often be the value of its default property; .Text, in this case. So calling
the procedure like 11 will not pass the TextBox object to the procedure, but a string value "John".
Resulting in a Type Mismatch.

edited Oct 1 '13 at 21:35 answered Mar 20 '13 at 8:59

HK1 Floris Kleijne
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5413765/what-are-the-rules-governing-usage-of-brackets-in-vba-function-calls 2/4
10/04/2018 ms access - What are the rules governing usage of brackets in VBA function calls? - Stack Overflow
7,148 8 51 87 441 1 4 3

5 +1 for a great answer, but I still don't agree that the parenthesis rule is "perfectly logical"... I can't imagine a
clumsier way to handle something simple like parentheses! – Emma Apr 4 '14 at 20:05

1 What about when there are 'dots'? (feel free to correct my terminology) myCollection.add obj AND
myCollection.item(obj) Aren't these both the correct ways to do this? But the parenthesis rules are different,
and I don't know why. – bmende Sep 13 '15 at 1:25

Thorough answer to something I've been puzzled about for a while. It still seems a little goofy. Other languages
don't have any problem parsing function calls with parentheses and no "call" keyword. But now that I know the
rules I won't be wasting time trying to figure out WTFITMWTSL!, Thanks for the help. B^J – riderBill Nov 30 '15 at
13:43

This is why VB is as dead as the dinosaurs – Hai Phan Sep 14 '16 at 3:43

Call Debug.Print("Hello world") still raises error. Where's the logic behind that? – Jeyekomon Mar 29 at
10:25

I just found some weird behavior calling a function with / without parentheses. Google took me here.

sub test()
dim a as double
a = 1#
p(a) 'this won't change a's value
Debug.Print a '1
p a ' this is expected behavior
Debug.Print a '2
Call p(a) 'this is also valid
Debug.Print a '3
end sub

Function p(a as Double) 'default is byref

a = a + 1
end function

My conclusion is that you have to use either Call or omitting the parentheses when calling a function
with only one parameter, otherwise the parameter isn't passed by reference (it's still get called, as I
checked already).

answered Oct 30 '12 at 18:00

alex1234231
133 1 6

The parenthesis do indeed force an argument to be passed ByVal . – RubberDuck Mar 31 '15 at 17:05

I just spent 10 minutes figuring out an "types incompatible" exception while calling a Sub which takes 1
argument via

CallMe(argument)

As it turns out, this is invalid, googling lead me here and finally

Call CallMe(argument)

or

CallMe argument

did the trick. So you must not use the brackets when calling a sub without the call-statement which only
takes 1 argument.

answered Apr 13 '12 at 8:53

metacircle
971 2 15 34

+_1 for the Sub name – call-me Jan 15 '17 at 17:17

When you use Call MySub you should use parentheses around parameters, but if you omit Call, you
don't need parentheses.

answered Mar 24 '11 at 2:06

Alexan
3,523 4 44 68

1 - By default, do not use parentheses when calling procedures or functions:

MsgBox "Hello World"

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5413765/what-are-the-rules-governing-usage-of-brackets-in-vba-function-calls 3/4
10/04/2018 ms access - What are the rules governing usage of brackets in VBA function calls? - Stack Overflow
2 - If you are calling a function, and are interested in its result, then you must enclose its arguments
with parentheses:

Dim s As String
Dim l As Long
s = "Hello World"
l = Len(s)

3 - If you want to use the call keyword with a procedure, then you must enclose the arguments with
parentheses (e.g. when you want to assign the result in a variable or to use the function in an
expression):

Call MsgBox("Hello World")

4 - If you want to force a ByRef argument (the default) to be passed ByVal, then enclose the ByRef
argument with parentheses:

Sub Test
Dim text As String
text = "Hello World"

ChangeArgument((text))

MsgBox text
End Sub

Sub ChangeArgument(ByRef s As String)

s = "Changed"
End Sub

This displays "Hello World"

answered Sep 24 '14 at 10:16

Christophe Keller
649 7 13

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5413765/what-are-the-rules-governing-usage-of-brackets-in-vba-function-calls 4/4